San Luis Obispo County District Attorney recused from Tianna Arata Black Lives Matter arrest case
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. – The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office has been recused from a case involving the arrest of college students who protested during the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 because of District Attorney Dan Dow's "well-publicized" association with critics of the movement, according to official court documents released on Wednesday.
“[N]o defendant is entitled to a prosecutor to which they are politically or socially or ideologically aligned,” the trial court stated. “The men and woman charged here are entitled to a prosecution not clouded by political or personal advantage to the prosecutor.”
College students Tianna Arata Wentworth (Arata), Marcus Montgomery, Joshua Powell, and Amman Asfaw were all arrested for involvement in a Black Lives Matter protest in San Luis Obispo and onto Highway 101 on July 21, 2020, according to court documents.
Roughly 300 people participated in the march, sparked by the outrage of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police officers.
"The 300-strong group provoked a range of reactions from those they encountered," the court documents said.
"Some cheered the marchers and their cause while others antagonized and vilified them; some complained about the blocked traffic. Images of marchers surrounding cars on Highway 101 appeared in national media outlets."
Prosecutors described Arata as "the marchers' de facto leader," the court documents said, adding that she faced 13 misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, obstruction of a thoroughfare, unlawful assembly, and disturbing the peace.
She was the only one charged until Dow filed an amendment complaint charging Montgomery and Powell with obstructing police officers and Asfaw with false imprisonment. Another complaint charged Jerad Hill with misdemeanor vandalism, Samuel Grocott with misdemeanor false imprisonment, and Robert Lasta, Jr. with felony vandalism for breaking a car window as it drove through the crowd of protestors.
Arata had moved to disqualify the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office from prosecuting her case, and everyone charged joined the motion.
They argued that Dow's antipathy toward Black Lives Matter-inspired protests "slanted his office's investigation" and motivate him to file the charges.
The motion described Dow as "aligned with right-wing conservative political organizations and fundamentalist religious groups that seek to vilify the Black Lives Matter [BLM] movement," according to court documents.
Dow's office was disqualified from prosecuting the case in December 2020, but appealed the motion, saying the evidence was a "patchwork of unreliable hearsay" and that the court erred when it relied on newspaper stories, emails, and other out-of-court statements lacking authentication.
The trial court granted the motion and recused the District Attorney's Office once again after it agreed that the evidence shows a conflict of interest that would render it unlikely that the defendant would receive a fair trial.
The Attorney General will represent the people going forward.
Patrick Fisher's Law Office, Arata's defense attorney, told News Channel 3-12 that it would not comment on the matter at this time.
The District Attorney's Office said that is considering whether to appeal the decision to the California Supreme Court.
"While we respect the Court of Appeal, we disagree with its decision that disregarded the law that was cited by the Attorney General in support of our appeal. There are many disputed factual issues that the Court of Appeal failed to address or ignored," Dow said in a statement to News Channel 3-12.
"We are considering whether to appeal this decision to the California Supreme Court and if so, we will state our position in writing at that time. I am proud of my and my office’s strong record of passionate and ethical advocacy for truth and justice in a fair and unbiased manner for the people of San Luis Obispo County.”
